The Migraine Brain

Your Breakthrough Guide to Fewer Headaches, Better Health

Elaine McArdle, Carolyn Bernstein

• Publisher: Souvenir Press
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9781788164245
• eBook ISBN:
  9780285639591
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Anesthesiology & Pain Management

A migraine isn't just a headache, it is a neurological disease. Affecting one in five women, one in twenty men, and one in twenty children, it's a debilitating, complex, and chronic condition that manifests in a combination of symptoms that can include excruciating head pain as well as other distinctive physical and emotional effects. Yet it is also a disease that you can improve and manage, as Dr. Carolyn Bernstein has discovered in her 17 years as a practicing neurologist.

Dr. Bernstein explains why migraines happen, why they are misdiagnosed, and why so few people get the right treatment for them. She reveals the latest research that shows that Migraine Brains share a hypersensitivity to stimuli and are more likely to experience a cascade of neurological reactions that cause common migraine symptoms. This breakthrough medical knowledge makes treatment and recovery possible with new migraine-specific drugs as well as with complementary treatments such as yoga, biofeedback and exercise.

The Migraine Brain will equip you with the information you need to understand migraines and to help your family and colleagues understand that a migraine isn't just a headache: it's a serious, yet treatable, condition.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Dedication
• Note to Readers
• Contents
• Introduction—“I’d Rather Die Than Get Another Migraine”
• Part One
• Chapter 1—Is Yours a Migraine?
• Chapter 2—The Migraine Brain
• Chapter 3—The Four Stages of a Migraine
• Chapter 4—Your Migraine Triggers
• Chapter 5—Female Hormones and Migraines Through the Life Cycle
• Chapter 6—Men’s Migraines
• Part Two
• Chapter 7—Measuring Your Migraine: The Best Self-Tests
• Chapter 8—How to Find the Right Doctor
• Chapter 9—Medicines That Work
• Chapter 10—When You Have to Go to the Emergency Room
• Chapter 11—Complementary and Alternative Treatments
• Part Three
• Chapter 12—Exercise, Sleep, Nutrition, Relaxation
• Chapter 13—Family, Home, Sex, Mental Health
• Chapter 14—Migraines, Work, and Travel
• Chapter 15—Migraine Makeover: Creating Your Own Personal Migraine Plan
• Appendix
• Acknowledgments
• Index
• Copyright